Shilshole Sailing : A Great Evening of Sailing (Debrief by Ben Hess, Mate for the Woodinville Crew)

We had a great night of sailing on Sunday evening (May 4th). I know it was nasty and rainy most of the day, but we seemed to hit the “sweet spot” (little rain and lots of wind) when we hit the water. I’m not sure of the exact stats, but I would guess we had 15 knots of sustained wind most of the evening.

Some happy sailors once we figured out the wind was for real

Here’s what we learned….

How to Tack the YC: After a failed tack our first try, we tacked successfully on the remaining 5 tries! Of course, it helps to have a strong, sustained wind, but we also learned some tricks unique to the YC to make this more successful.

Mr. Shipley was able to give us some great sail instruction

How to Get Underway Under Sail: After a hairy start during the last weekender, we’re getting better at what it takes to make this happen. The crew onboard will have lots to share the next time we go out.

How to Trim Sails / Maximize Speed Under Sail: Mr. Shipley is a master at maximizing the performance of the Yankee Clipper and shared a bunch of great tips. At one point he said…”Do you want to put the leeward rail in the water? Watch this!” This is the most I’ve seen the YC healed over!

Look closely, you can see the water coming through the scuppers.

Fun stuff we experienced:

We got the Yankee Clipper doing 7.6 knots at one point! With the boat healed over going this fast–it’s quit a ride!

-We got to see a harbor porpoise in addition to the normal birds and other wildlife we normally see. Harbor porpoises look like dolphins–there is at least one person on the crew who still thinks we saw a dolphin 🙂